This invention relates generally to disposable absorbent articles for males exhibiting minor incontinency, and more specifically to disposable absorbent shields which can be readily worn and concealed under clothing to prevent the soiling of such clothing by minor urine leakage.
As populations continue to increase in longevity, incontinence, a problem of age presents a need for fluid control in undergarments. In particular, adult incontinence represents a transition from underwear to the use of some type of absorbent article to be added to the underwear or to completely replace it. For moderate-to-heavy incontinence needs a variety of disposable diaper designs are commercially available. Never the less certain deficiencies have been recognized in diapers that are currently found in the market place. For example, many of them, particularly high capacity designs, are thick and bulky, thus rendering concealment difficult. Moreover many of such prior art absorbent articles are complex in construction. See for example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,520,673 (Yarbrough et al.), U.S. Pat. No. 5,876,390 (Hall et al.), U.S. Pat. No. 5,817,086 (Kling), and U.S. Pat. No. 5,947,848 (Roe et al.), all of which disclose absorbent articles which may be of various shapes, such as rectangular, trapezoidal, T-shaped, I-shaped, hour-glass shaped, but which include various elastic components and/or other structural features, such as adhesive mounting tabs. Not all prior art diapers are of such complex construction. See for example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,768,479 (Widlund). This patent discloses a disposable diaper which is T-shaped, whose transverse or wider upper portion is made thicker and includes an elastic insert for stability. Since the diaper will be used on infants concealability of the diaper is not a significant concern, as is the case with incontinence shields to be worn within undergarments by adults. Moreover, the simple T-shape of the diaper leaves much to be desired from the standpoint of conformability to the wearer""s body.
For light-to-moderate incontinence needs, absorbent pads, guards, shields or absorbent inserts which are used in conjunction with underwear have proven generally acceptable. Nevertheless, such prior art pads, guards, shields and absorbent inserts still leave much to be desired from the standpoint of concealability, comfort, cost, etc., for light or very minor incontinence (slight dripping or leakage).
Accordingly, it is a general object of this invention to provide a disposable absorbent shield which addresses the needs of the prior art.
It is another object of this invention to provide a disposable adult incontinent shield which is very thin and flexible to be readily worn and concealed under clothing.
It is still another object of this invention to provide a soft and flexible disposable incontinent shield.
A disposable absorbent shield arranged to be worn under clothing by a male person to trap and collect urine. The article is in the form of a flexible chassis having a front portion arranged to be located, over the person""s penis and contiguous, lower abdominal region and a crotch portion arranged to be located over the person""s crotch and between the person""s legs. The chassis includes a liquid absorbent layer or core (e.g., an air-laid absorbent material containing super absorbent powder, pulp and a binder), an outer cover or moisture barrier (e.g., a polymeric film), and an inner liner (e.g., a non-woven cover-stock, such as spun bonded polypropylene). The liquid absorbent core is interposed between the outer cover and the inner liner.
The chassis is a very thin (e.g., in the range of 0.2 mm-6 mm and most preferably 1.0 mm thick), planar structure having a modified T-shaped periphery including an upper transverse portion (e.g., approximately 152 mm wide), forming the upper portion of the chassis and a downwardly extending longitudinal portion (e.g., approximately 245 mm long), forming the crotch portion of the chassis. The upper portion merges with the crotch portion in a pair of gently curved sides (e.g., radius of curvature approximately 78 mm), shaped to readily accommodate the legs of the wearer. The chassis is arranged to be bent into a desired shape to conform to the body of the wearer.
In accordance with one preferred embodiment of the invention the shield includes an adhesive (e.g., two lines or stripes of pressure sensitive hot melt adhesive) located on the outer cover (e.g., along the central axis of the shield) for releasably mounting the shield in an undergarment. The adhesive stripes are initially covered by a removable release strip until the shield is ready for use, e.g., affixation to the inside of the undergarment so that the shield will block the egress of urine through the undergarment.